Sometimes I have a hard time keeping an open mind.  Oh, I know how very important it is in life… to do just that.  When your mind is open… your heart is sure to follow.

Many of us are socially conditioned to immediately reject certain things without even thinking about it.  What the heck? We weren’t born with closed ways of thinking.  Holy Smackerels, when you are very young… there is no color, creed, or politics.  There are a whole big bunch of crayons… and blank pieces of paper.  We LEARN through conditioning to close our minds to possibilities.

Keeping an open mind is a priceless virtue no matter how sure we may be about what we believe to be truth.

I try, but I am not always so great at it.  I think it is one of the most important factors in behaving compassionately here on earth.  If I could just keep an open mind, I would be  more likely to …..

….hear the WHOLE story….
…. try something new….
… not be judgmental….
… be aware of sights, and sounds, and smells around me….
… be able to listen…
… be able to think….
…. to grow.

Yes, all of that unleashes endless possibilities in life.  It is when I am sure that I know it all… that I miss the kazillion things I have never considered.

About ten years… we had a couple of Golden Retrievers.  As a breed, they are some very amazing dogs.  I was certain… positively certain… that I did not want, OR NEED, any other kind of dog in my life.
Golden Retrievers…. or nothing.  End of Story.

Not end of story.  Enter “little dog”…… stage left.

WHAT???!!  I don’t like little yappy bossy dogs.  Especially not crippled, stinking, fur-matted, grumpy little dogs.  No way… no how.  And I sure don’t want to own one.
Okay… okay.  So she’s injured.  I will take her to the vet and help her get better.  But that is the end of it.  I will find some “chowderhead-bleeding-heart” to take this thing off my hands…..

And then the OMS hit me.  Yes. The Open Mind Syndrome crawled in.  Like a creeping…. yet….. flowering vine.

You see… I had absolutely NO idea that I wanted that little dog.  But I did.  In fact…. I NEEDED that dog.  She changed me.  She helped me.  She has softened  my heart in immeasurable ways.  She is a friend, and a lifeline.

What a lucky girl I am.

And that is just one little facet of my fortune when it comes to others beings in my life.  I know so many good people… who have done the very same thing for me.  Opened my way of thinking.  Helped me to see.  Grabbed my hand and walked with me as I grew.  And grow.

Yep.

When your mind is open… your heart is sure to follow….

“Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.” – Charles F. Kettering